The Koopmans: Ludington State Park Camping June 2013

We had a great time camping this year. We left Luke home with the Grandparents so that we could enjoy some time with Levi and Maci and with past experience we knew that taking him along would equal alot more work and stress. We camped for two nights and ended our trip a little early due to forecasted rain. But the two days that we did have we so much fun. The best part was seeing how much the kids just enjoyed being dirty, outside, how they played with each other and experienced the little joys of the camping trip. We started out and stopped in New Era to County Dairy Farm. It broke up the ride a little for us and the farm tour was fun. We got to see the whole milk process right to where they bottle the milk. The highlight was the endless samples of fresh chocolate milk to try.We had Levi pack his bag himself and we usually check it but did not and he only packed one orange t shirt. They were also were scared of going in the shower with us so no baths for a few days for them. I did tried to wipe them down at night.:) We set up our tents and Levi was more than helpful to help Daddy with that part. We had a campfire both nights and Levi probably asked 50 times each day when we would start the fire. He loved doing this and now claims that he is the best smore maker. He would get so upset when I would get the stick too close to the fire with the marshmellows on the end. The first night they went to bed around 10pm because it was so light out and so much noise around us. The second night we all had to take cover in the tent around 845pm because of rain and stayed there till morning. We colored, played games and told stories to past the time and they were so content doing this.They went to sleep easy that night. We stayed mostly dry but everything else around us was wet. They were not scared of the rain Levi and Maci both loved riding their bikes and we took longer bike rides with them in bike trailers. I pulled Maci in her " princess carriage" and Ryan pulled Levi. We saw racoons and deer on our rides. Levi and Ryan bought some worms to attempt to fish but no luck. We saw a ton of fish but no bites. We also went to the lake to swim and Maci was so tired afterward she fell asleep in the bike trailer and took a two hour nap in the tent. We went out for supper and breakfast to make meal planning easier and ate lunch at the camp with alot of snacks in between. On the way home, we stopped in Silver Lake for a dune ride a sort of compromise for leaving early..Levi was so upset but there was no way we were going to spend another night in the rain. It was beautiful day there and the dune ride was fun for everyone. Levi and Maci both were tired after this and slept in the car all the way home.

Levi will you marry me? Levi: Mace will you come talk with me by the fire. Maci also holding her "tiny" . Here "she is drinking me" as Maci would say. Maci was really listening at the dairy farm